What is God? (V)

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8.26.07

What is God?

God is creator, God is king
today: God is judge

this is the simple idea:
because God made every human being
God is an advocate for every human being
if you treat with injustice another human being
he will bring judgment on you

God is judge because he loves human beings
when one man brings cruel injustice against another
there is a future day coming
when God will right that wrong

(not usually in the lifetime of the people,
but at the coming of the kingdom of God)

Job 31: 5-8

If I had done injustice to others by using deceit
in my business practices
then God should punish me

9-12
If I had done injustice to a man
by trying to steal his wife
then God should bring destruction upon me

13-15
even the lowest in status, my servants
are God’s creations
and God defends them and advocates for them

God will call me to account
for how I have treated every one in my life

16-23

Job rescued and defended the needy, orphans and widows
and he knew that if he did not
God would bring destruction upon him
for treating other human beings with injustice

skip to 29-30

he could not even curse an enemy
because he is a human being
created by God

31-32

he even care for strangers and aliens wandering through
he showed them hospitality

We should not dare to treat other human beings
with contempt or injustice
God made each one
and God himself will defend each one with his judgment
when we dare to even mock or ridicule another human being
we bring God against us
we should tremble and fear
and act with reverence
when dealing with other men and women like ourselves

1 Kings 21:1-24
1 Kings 22:29-38
2 Kings 9

God is judge
because Ahab has acted with injustice
against Naboth
God brings judgment on him
God is the advocate for Naboth
this is just a sign of what will happen at the coming of the kingdom

2 fundamental facts
1. every one of has sinned against other human beings
2. a day of Judgment is coming

Is it a doomsday when the world will be completely destroyed? No
Judgment is not just a negative thing
it is a positive thing
it is the day God sets the world right
and rids the world of all injustice and cruelty
God will destroy only those who persist in this unjust way of life
and will not turn from it

In response to the truth of your sin against others
and the reality of judgment
what should you do?
Humble yourself before God
Acknowledge your sins against others
and the judgment coming against you
Repent: turn from a way of injustice
to a way of justice in your treatment of others
Make restitution with those you have sinned against

What will God do?
God will forgive you
(even the murderer)
God will give you his Spirit,
a spirit to act with justice and love
God will rescue you on the day of Judgment
from this world of injustice
he will set the world right
and protect you from all injustice

What is God? (III)

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8.5.07

“What is God?”
We have seen that God is the creator of the world
We have he is sovereign
and in control of everything that happens in the world
but this raises the question:
Is God doing a good job managing this world?
horrible things are happening
people are being crushed by suffering
a bridge collapses and people fall to their death
hurricanes and tsunamis drown thousands
people are blown up by suicide bombers
children are born with terrible diseases
live for a few years and then die before adulthood
hundreds of thousands of children are orphaned
parents sell their children into sex slavery

If God is in control
does he really care about the people in this world?
It certainly does not seem like he cares.

If God is in control
is he doing a good job?
It certainly doesn’t seem like he is.

Job wrestled with this question
and I would like us to look this morning at the book of Job
I am not going to read the opening chapters
let me summarize a few things you need to know

Job is a righteous man
he is not a sinless man, no man is
but he is devoted to God
he is obedient to God
he strives to do God’s will in everything

God puts Job in Satan’s hands to afflict him
not to kill him, but to afflict him terribly
all of Job’s oxen and donkeys and camels were stolen by raiders
he loses all his wealth and servants
his seven sons and three daughters were killed by a building collapsing
his body was afflicted by horrible sores from his feet to the top of his head

Job’s suffering is innocent suffering
it is not the result of anything evil he has done

Job’s suffering is ignorant suffering
he has no idea why
four friends come and speak to him
and they insist that he is suffering because he has sinned against God
because he has rejected God in some way
they advise him to repent and leave his sin
Job insists he has not rejected God
but they accuse him again and again
and we learn later that God says his friends have
“not spoken what is right about God”
Job was not suffering because of anything he did

excerpts from Job’s speeches:
3:25-26
6:1-4
7:1-5
16:7-17
19:8-21
29:1-6
30:20-31

Job’s suffering is unbearable, beyond the ordinary,
God has willed his suffering for God is in control of all that happens
Job has not rejected God or left the path of obedience to him
but God has poured suffering out on him
and he does not know why

*In the closing chapters
God responds to Job
he speaks to him
but he does not answer his question
he does not tell him “why?”
Job never finds out why
this is a question that in this world is usually not answered

Job 38-40:5
God does not answer his question “why”
he simply reveals the panorama of his wisdom,
the wide world of all the things that God manages with his wisdom
and asks the question:
“Do you know how to manage this world better than me?
Are you ready to tell me my business?”

42:1-6
“I spoke of things I did not understand”
Job sees that he has no right to question the way God runs the world
he realizes that he has spoken as if he could understand
the wisdom of the management of the world
and he now realizes that he cannot
it is beyond his understanding
Now that Job sees God,
the grandeur of his wisdom over the whole world
he despises himself,
that is he rejects his own understanding and wisdom
and trusts God’s wisdom only

*
The story ends with Job’s health returning
and his fortune being restored
This is not held up as an example of what will happen to you
if you persist in prayer
We are not promised that good will come to us in this life
this is a sign to us who read the story of Job
that God will in the end do good to us

James 5:11
“You have heard of Job’s perseverance
and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

He will one day shower us with compassion and mercy

In the same way Jesus’ miracles of healing are signs
of what God will do one day

read John 11:1-44